Taos Real Estate

Posted by Jim Kimmons, Broker/Owner • June 23, 2009 • Printer-friendly

l008 Taos Real Estate Asking the Right Questions If you have a property listed, or you're thinking of listing one in the Taos real estate market, are you asking potential listing brokers the right questions? And, even more so, are you prepared to make them do what they promise?

I have a buyer interested in three condos in the area, two listed by one brokerage and the other by a different one. The broker with the one unit has had it listed only 29 days, and there are seven documents attached to the listing. Basically every document this buyer needs to see how the condo association is operated, maintenance and finance issues, and rental rules are all there.

The other brokerage has two condos of interest, one listed 300 days. There are no documents attached to that listing, and only one to the other listing. No condo association documents are available. How would you feel about it if you listed your condo or home with a broker who would not have every bit of information ALL buyers ask for up with the listing so they can assess and compare your property?

Since ALL brokers place your property in the MLS for searching on ALL of our sites, that's not a comparison. Since very few properties sell due to personal contacts and print marketing, most sell from Web marketing and the MLS. For this reason, there is really not a lot of difference in the value you'll receive from a large or a small brokerage.

Where the rubber meets the road is in their desire and ability to place your property on the Web in a lot more places, with a lot more information. Will they:

Syndicate your listing to multiple national real estate portals?
Display the maximum number of images in the MLS, as well as many more on their and other syndicated sites?
Create a virtual tour video, and syndicate it to YouTube, Google Videos, and Yahoo videos?
Gather and attach to the MLS listing all relevant documents that buyers need to examine BEFORE an offer?
A BIG ONE - So many Taos real estate brokers place a listing into the MLS days to weeks before they upload the photos. Did you know that there are thousands of buyers on automated alerts from the MLS? They get the listing ONLY ONCE, the day it's listed. They have indicated their criteria, and your home matches or they wouldn't be getting it in their alerts. I get emails every week from my alert clients wanting to know why there are no photos with the listing.

Ask the right questions, and make them show you that they've done what they promised. Within a week of listing a home, all of the above should be completed.